LYON
PMA Member
Thought I'd throw in a little plug for something that is working well for me this year.
Last year my father-in-law bought me a scent smoker for Christmas. I used it to finish out the late muzzleloader season but didn't really have any confirmed results that it did or didn't work due to not being very close to any deer. I was really looking forward to putting it to use this fall. If you don't know what it is, the smoker itself is the exact same thing as a smoker for a beehive (which you can by for about $15 on Amazon). Basically all you are doing is building a fire in a can then putting the fire out and saturating your clothes in smoke.
I haven't been out a ton this year, but enough to confirm that this works. As everyone knows, if you hunt enough, you will get deer downwind of you. In a typical year, I will have deer bust me (due to scent) probably 4-5 times. So far this year, I can confirm that I have had deer directly downwind of me 5 or 6 times and only 1 has blown. I'm confident the one was because I had a facemask on me that had not been washed or smoked this year, and after trying to figure out why she blew I realized the facemask had a goofy smell to it. The first downwind encounter was with two bucks. A 2.5 year old and a 3.5 year old. Both were within 20 yards, directly downwind. Both smelled something but didn't spook. One of the other encounters was also a 3.5 year old buck, about 60 yards downwind. Again, he smelled something but didn't spook like I've been used to seeing in the past.
So, take it for what it's worth, but I think I'm hooked. It's a little odd to be smelling like a smoked sausage while deer hunting but if it works, it works. And the best part, it's super cheap and easy. My previous scent control regimen wasn't crazy, but it still took some time and like I said, it hardly worked. All I did was smoked my clothes really well before season started and I smoke them pretty much every time I go out. I'll light the smoker (takes about 2-3 minutes) and let it sit upwind of me while I'm dressing. I'll puff a little smoke on each garment as it goes on. That's it. It maybe adds 5 extra minutes to my dressing routine.
Has anybody else tried this?
Last year my father-in-law bought me a scent smoker for Christmas. I used it to finish out the late muzzleloader season but didn't really have any confirmed results that it did or didn't work due to not being very close to any deer. I was really looking forward to putting it to use this fall. If you don't know what it is, the smoker itself is the exact same thing as a smoker for a beehive (which you can by for about $15 on Amazon). Basically all you are doing is building a fire in a can then putting the fire out and saturating your clothes in smoke.
I haven't been out a ton this year, but enough to confirm that this works. As everyone knows, if you hunt enough, you will get deer downwind of you. In a typical year, I will have deer bust me (due to scent) probably 4-5 times. So far this year, I can confirm that I have had deer directly downwind of me 5 or 6 times and only 1 has blown. I'm confident the one was because I had a facemask on me that had not been washed or smoked this year, and after trying to figure out why she blew I realized the facemask had a goofy smell to it. The first downwind encounter was with two bucks. A 2.5 year old and a 3.5 year old. Both were within 20 yards, directly downwind. Both smelled something but didn't spook. One of the other encounters was also a 3.5 year old buck, about 60 yards downwind. Again, he smelled something but didn't spook like I've been used to seeing in the past.
So, take it for what it's worth, but I think I'm hooked. It's a little odd to be smelling like a smoked sausage while deer hunting but if it works, it works. And the best part, it's super cheap and easy. My previous scent control regimen wasn't crazy, but it still took some time and like I said, it hardly worked. All I did was smoked my clothes really well before season started and I smoke them pretty much every time I go out. I'll light the smoker (takes about 2-3 minutes) and let it sit upwind of me while I'm dressing. I'll puff a little smoke on each garment as it goes on. That's it. It maybe adds 5 extra minutes to my dressing routine.
Has anybody else tried this?